2 Kings 9 · a question people ask
Was Jehu doing the LORD's will?
The word the young prophet brings sends him: "You must strike your master Ahab’s house, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel" (9:7). Twice in this chapter Jehu ties what is done to the LORD's word (9:26, 9:36). In the next chapter the LORD says to Jehu, "Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to Ahab’s house according to all that was in my heart, your descendants shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation" (10:30), and the book adds, "But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart" (10:31). Years later the LORD tells Hosea to name his son Jezreel, "for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu" (Hosea 1:4). Christians read how these fit together in two main ways, each resting on its verses. Both agree that the LORD sent Jehu against Ahab's house (9:6-7), that 10:30 speaks well of what he did to it, and that 10:31 and Hosea 1:4 speak against him and his house. Chapter 10 comes back to this.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Sent, and commended
Those who read it this way start from 9:7 and 10:30. The LORD commanded the striking of Ahab's house (9:7) and said of it, "you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes" (10:30); Jehu says "the LORD has done that which he spoke by his servant Elijah" (10:10), and the book says he struck all who remained to Ahab in Samaria "according to the LORD’s word which he spoke to Elijah" (10:17). On this reading Hosea 1:4 doesn't call the commanded judgment wrong. The judgment on Jehu's own house comes because Jehu "didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat" (10:29) and "took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD" (10:31), and the blood shed at Jezreel is required of a house that went on in those sins.
2 Kings 9:7 · 2 Kings 10:30 · 2 Kings 10:10 · 2 Kings 10:17 · 2 Kings 10:29-31 · Hosea 1:4
Sent, and still held to account for the blood
Those who read it this way start from Hosea 1:4 and 10:31. The LORD speaks of avenging "the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu" (Hosea 1:4), and Jezreel is where Jehu drives in this chapter (9:16) and where Jezebel is thrown down (9:30-33). On this reading Jehu did the task he was given, but not with a heart set on the LORD's law (10:31), so the blood he shed counts against his house. They point to his words, "Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD" (10:16), and to "Jehu did deceptively" (10:19) in his plan against the worshipers of Baal.
Hosea 1:4 · 2 Kings 10:31 · 2 Kings 9:16 · 2 Kings 9:30-33 · 2 Kings 10:16 · 2 Kings 10:19
The verses
“He arose, and went into the house. Then he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, “The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘I have anointed you king over the people of the LORD, even over Israel. You must strike your master Ahab’s house, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel.”
“‘Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons,’ says the LORD; ‘and I will repay you in this plot of ground,’ says the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him onto the plot of ground, according to the LORD’s word.””
“Therefore they came back, and told him. He said, “This is the LORD’s word, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘The dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel on the plot of Jezreel,”
“The LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to Ahab’s house according to all that was in my heart, your descendants shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin.”